Book Review: Magic Tree House #1

My sister recently gave me the first book in the Magic Tree House series to read, Dinosaurs Before Dark. I'm not sure why but the child is very strange and I've long since stopped trying to decipher her motives or thought processes. I figured she would ask me what I thought of the book later so read it. And boy, am I glad I did! It had everything you could want in a Beginner Reader book. Children that you can relate to, a girl character and a boy character, short chapters and large type. We're introduced to siblings Jack and Annie in this book. Jack is the older sibling and therefore wiser and more cautious than the younger sibling of Annie who is a bit impetuous and reckless. Any older sibling reading this review can certainly relate to a capricious younger sibling! The two discover a tree house while playing near their house and find it filled with many various books. Jack is really excited when he sees all the books cause he wears glasses and therefore loves to read. He makes a wish to see a real dinosaur while reading a book on that topic and the tree house is suddenly transported back to the time of dinosaurs. Annie, being the rash and reckless younger sibling (she's shown as a blond on the cover also) actually ventures out of the tree house and starts approaching dinosaurs. Jack initially stays in the tree house and reads from the dinosaur book to discern which dinosaurs are plant-eating and which are meat-eating. As I've mentioned, Jack wears glasses and is accordingly timid and prudent. He needs to know if his sister is about to become Dinosaur Dinner right before his eyes. I don't want to ruin the suspense for you so you'll just have to read for yourself to see if Annie's foolhardy behavior lands her in trouble. And there's certainly plenty of suspense and excitement in this book! If you're not potty-trained then don't pick up this book! The chapters with the T-Rex had me on the edge of my seat and shaking in my boots! I've never been interested in dinosaurs but this book sparked my interest in the subject, at least until I finished it and saw that my new Entertainment Weekly had arrived. Using my rating scale of 4 Mimosas, I give this book 2 and 1/2 Mimosas and a Flintstone vitamin.